Drug development and industrial pharmacy
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The last two decades have seen the emergence of several viral outbreaks. Some of them are the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV2) - the cause of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Ever, vaccines for emergency use have been authorized for the control and prevention of COVID-19. Currently, there is an urgent need to develop a vaccine for prophylaxis of COVID-19 and for other future epidemics. ⋯ The information provided here lists vaccines for other types of coronavirus that have been used in the development of vaccines for COVID-19.
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The escalating abuse of prescription drugs has recently spawned the development of novel drug formulations resistant to various methods of tampering and misuse. ⋯ Prodrug and agonist/antagonist formulations are popular in marketed products, while solid and gel approaches are more recent additions. However, the inclusion of aversive agents or enzyme inhibitors in a product is proving to be more difficult to develop. Overall, detailed formulation and manufacturing methods still remain rather elusive to protect public health. Moreover, these innovative formulations are mostly untried in the general population and their abuse deterring effects has yet to be proven.
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Review
Advanced formulation design: improving drug therapies for the management of severe and chronic pain.
Chronic pain is a condition affecting a vast patient population and resulting in billions of dollars in associated health care costs annually. Sufferers from severe chronic pain often require [correction of requite] twenty-four hour drug treatment through intrusive means and/or repeated oral dosing. Although the oral route of administration is most preferred, conventional immediate release oral dosage forms lead to inconvenient and suboptimal drug therapies for the treatment of chronic pain. ⋯ Ideally, these advanced delivery systems provide efficacious pain therapy with minimal side effects via a simple and convenient dosing regime. In this article, currently commercialized and developing drug products for pain management are reviewed with respect to dosage form design as well as clinical efficacy. The drug delivery systems reviewed herein represent advanced formulation designs that are substantially improving analgesic drug therapies.